Here’s a book that I didn’t get to cover on Halloweโen. Mostly because I forgot. October is kind of a lot.
๐ฉ๐จ๐ฎ๐บ (๐๐ ๐ ๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐) is the graphic novel adaptation of a short novel written by Patrick McHale, a few years before he started working on ๐๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐๐ข๐ณ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐๐ข๐ญ๐ญ. Unable to land animation gigs, he woke up one day and decided to write a novel. He gave himself one week, because he thought that was how it was done. He barely edited. He did his own illustrations. He had it printed and sold it on Etsy for a while. Then came artist Gavin Fullerton who thought itโd be fun to adapt the short work in comic form, to which McHale said, โSure why not?โ
Thusly: ๐๐๐๐, which tells the story of one John Motts, an everyman sort of figure who, after losing his doted on dog, embarks on a humble odyssey that will take him across his familiar town, the surrounding forests, and beyond, encountering along the way corrupt cops, talking walruses, and, not least, the devil.
This is a surreal take on the heroโs journey. A story that is aware of its own absurdity and indeed relishes and thrives in it. If you’ve ever seen the by-now classic ๐๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐๐ข๐ณ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐๐ข๐ญ๐ญ miniseries, the more dreamlike elements of that story can give you a hint of the weirdness that is contained within the bags of this tale. McHaleโs writing is at times poignant and poetic, and at others purposefully simplistic and nonsensical. This style is reflected in Fullertonโs own art by contrasting the stark realism of his backgrounds and other characters with Johnโs distinctly cartoonish veneer, appearing as he does like a mix between Charlie Brown and Chris Wareโs Jimmy Corrigan.
The art is further complemented by the contribution of colorist Whitney Cogar, who has also done work on the ๐๐ข๐ณ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐๐ข๐ญ๐ญ comics. She gives the book a classic, timeless feel by going with a style that simulates the four color printing process prominently used in the early days of comic books (complete with Ben Day dots).
I liked ๐๐๐๐ quite a bit. Mainly because it felt like nothing else Iโve read in a long while. Itโs quirky and offbeat, but also lacking any pretense. Itโs totally sincere, which makes it surprisingly moving. Itโs hard to hate a lost dog tale, anyway, and this one is no different in that regard.